US Republicans continue to dutifully follow Trump
The US Republicans are simply incorrigible.
With their decision to block the establishment of a commission to investigate the attack on Congress on January 6 in the Senate, they bring ex-President Donald Trump another victory.
Trump wants the annoying topic to be forgotten as quickly as possible.
After all, it was his fans who broke into the Capitol as a wild mob in January and beat police officers as outlaws.
Trump knows only too well that the vast majority of Americans see January 6th as a day of shame. Therefore, he and his Republicans have little interest in having this talked about any longer. In the coming year, the next
congressional elections are
due, Trump is thinking out loud about a renewed presidential candidacy in 2024. There is too much coming to terms with the past disturbing. The Senators in Congress are happy to do him the favor of burying the cause, also because they think they can secure their own benefices in this way.
The Democrats are naturally appalled, although their motives for founding the Commission may not have been quite as unselfish as it appears at first glance. Of course, for them it is also about naming Trump and his family as the perpetrators in this matter again, in order to build up further political capital until the elections.
Trump will be happy that his party saved him from further unpleasant questions about his role on this day.
At the same time, it is once again clear how much the Republicans are still under Trump's thumb.
Only six brave Republican senators dared to vote for the commission.
Including
Ben Sasse, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney.
It is almost the same Republicans who
voted
for
Trump's impeachment earlier
this year
.
As is well known, this undertaking was also unsuccessful.
Senate: Republicans block investigation into Capitol storm
The long shadow of the empire
After the war, Germany acquired the reputation of being a so-called
"soft power"
for
many good reasons
.
It is considered a country that stands up for the good in the world.
Almost all federal governments in recent years have always been there when it comes to denouncing human rights violations in other countries.
It was almost forgotten, however, that the Federal Republic itself, although the
legal successor to the German Reich
, always found it difficult to
recognize the
genocide
committed by German colonial troops
in Namibia
.
Almost 75,000 people were killed between 1904 and 1908.
Enlarge image
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas
Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP
Of course there was a lot of money involved, in Bonn and later in Berlin those responsible apparently had little desire
to pay compensation to
the descendants of the
Herero and Nama
. Now,
after many years of tough negotiations
,
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has
finally reached an agreement with Namibia that Germany will
officially recognize
the
genocide
, ask for forgiveness and pay a good one billion euros in compensation over a period of 30 years.
What is still missing would be the
consistent renaming of the last streets
in Germany, which are still reminiscent of the
colonial
criminals of the time.
Unfortunately true: numerous streets are still named after officers or merchants from this time such as Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck or Adolf Lüderitz.
There is no reason to honor these people.
Hererostrasse
would be a better name.
Herero and Nama: Germany recognizes colonial crimes in Africa as genocide
Tipico's dirty shops
Every football fan knows the
testosterone heavy TV spots
from Tipico.
Sports betting is sold as a lifestyle product for successful guys.
The pay TV channel Sky shows the “Tipico top game of the week”, and the Austrian football league even bears the name “Tipico Bundesliga”.
Advertising has made the former outsider hobby socially acceptable: The turnover of
betting providers in Germany
more than doubled between 2013 and 2019, to
almost ten billion euros per year
.
With Tipico at the top.
A SPIEGEL team spoke to more than two dozen informants from the environment of the Tipico betting company and evaluated thousands of pages of strictly confidential documents from the Tipico realm: e-mails, board minutes, accounts, contracts and more.
The documents and conversations reveal that Tipico was not always the “reliable partner and honest bookmaker of sports betting”, as the company claimed to be in an image brochure. Rather, it is a gambling den that goes to the limits of what is legally permitted - or beyond.
According to SPIEGEL information,
several operators of the betting shops have
criminal backgrounds.
Tipico worked with partners convicted of
illegal possession of guns, bodily harm, fraud, libel and tax offenses
.
A business partner was considered a big number in the European cocaine trade and was wanted by an arrest warrant.
Another organized one of the biggest betting scandals of all time.
And still others had black coffers abroad, to which Tipico transferred untaxed commissions.
Read the full story here:
Internal documents prove dark chapters of the market leader: The dirty business of the betting company Tipico
Winner of the day ...
... is
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
In a remarkable power-political venture, he has declared himself ready to run again for the office of president next year. All the pullers in the capital were surprised by this. Thanks to his
early initiative,
Steinmeier acts
as an actor in this matter, not as a driven one, a role that nobody likes. Now everyone else can think about how to deal with this candidacy.
Of course Steinmeier takes
a certain risk
. It cannot be absolutely certain whether there will really be a majority for his re-election after the Bundestag election in the Federal Assembly. The Union and the Greens, currently the strongest forces, could bring other candidates into play than the trained sociologist. All right.
Nevertheless, he has the best chance of staying: Steinmeier is
respected by the people,
and in times of uncertainty and instability he exudes an aura of seriousness and reliability.
Anyone who wanted to replace such a popular president in the coming year would have to have
a lot of persuasiveness and political skill
- and present a really good candidate.
Anything else would
smell of
disgraceful party politics
, and many voters are known to be allergic to that.
The latest news from the night
Origin of the corona virus WHO criticizes political interference in Covid investigations:
Did the corona virus come from a Chinese laboratory?
Joe Biden has hired US intelligence to further test this theory.
The WHO is now calling for a strict separation of science and politics.
Ex-President of the Hertie School of Governance
Henrik Enderlein is
dead:
He was only 46 years old: Henrik Enderlein died of cancer.
The economist and former president of the Hertie School of Governance was a proponent of the European idea.
Former Icelandic professional footballer
Rúrik
Gíslason wins "Let's Dance" final:
This year's season of "Let's Dance" is over - and Rúrik Gíslason leaves the dance floor as the winner.
The 33-year-old convinced the jury and audience of the RTL show as Thor, the hammer-wielding god of thunder.
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I wish you a nice weekend.
Your Roland Nelles
